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Rebecca Bloomer

@rhbloomer.bsky.social
189 followers 206 following 106 posts

epi/geneticist | plant geek | mama | she/her I call Ōtautahi home, now.

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Reposted by Rebecca Bloomer
Phil Garnock-Jones @theobrominated.eurosky.social · 15h
Ongoing research in taxonomy is absolutely crucial to this mission. That means taxonomists to support and interpret the collections and databases.
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Bioeconomy Science Institute @bioeconomyscience.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
🌱 Curious about a career in science? Join us for E Tipu, E Rea – a free, hands-on open day for tertiary tauira and graduates to meet researchers, explore science in action and discover where a career in science could take you. 📅 18 Sept | Lincoln Register 👇 bit.ly/3T8wH2T
bit.ly
Kanapu Exchange - Kanapu
Kanapu Exchange has been designed to connect emerging Māori researchers and graduates with industry specialists and organisations as well as offering hands-on experiences that shape our research, scie...
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Dr Dan Shugar 🇨🇦 @watershedlab.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Someone woke up and chose violence
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Simon J. Greenhill @simongreenhill.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
NZ National and ACT parties can't even be bothered to show up for a pre-election forum discussion of Science and Research funding in NZ. Tells you all you need to know about their priorities. www.youtube.com/live/0yxmHaa... #NZPol
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Troy Baisden @troybaisden.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Today 12-1pm Panel Discussion on Science and Research Issues for the 2026 General Election Catch the livestream (or attend - preferably if you've registered). www.youtube.com/live/0yxmHaa...
youtube.com
Pre-Election Forum on Science & Research
YouTube video by New Zealand Association of Scientists
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Chenxin Li, PhD @chenxinli2.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
While both nori & wakame are edible seaweed, they are separated by >1 billion (!) years of evolution. Nori is red algae, which acquired its chloroplasts via primary endosymbiosis; wakame is brown algae, which acquired its chloroplasts from another algae. They are about divergent as human vs yeast.
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samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 06/08/2026
Reuben Davidson with a good speech in parliament on the shocking cuts to New Zealand science Davidson actually showed up to my office at Auckland Uni (!!) to discuss how scientists need to be supported in this country, and how to ensure we don't lose a generation of boffins to foreign shores #nzpol
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Alex Rubinsteyn @alexr.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
JFC. There's a gene named NaN.
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Peter Dearden @peterkdearden.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Let's stop pretending biology is easy. open.substack.com/pub/peterkde...
open.substack.com
on biology in schools
and the illusion of being close to physics
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Dan Slevin @danslevin.funeralsandsnakes.net · 29/05/2026
Embarrassing for NZ media that it took the @nytimes.com to visit rural Māori communities to show the hardship they are experiencing.
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Troy Baisden @troybaisden.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
NZAS release on Budget 2026 is out. It wasn't even a nothing burger this year... What is shocking is the long-term trend. scientists.org.nz/news/13636927
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Rebecca Bloomer @rhbloomer.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Desperate to escape the fog in Canterbury this week, I skipped school this arvo to head up the crater rim. I found sunshine, and also these Forbidden Cookies.
A cluster of yellow-ish fungi with darker spots growing from a cut stump; Port Hills, Canterbury NZ. No I cannot ID 'em, I'm not even good at plant taxonomy 😅
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Rebecca Bloomer @rhbloomer.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Mōrena Ōtautahi 💕
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anil oza @aniloza.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
wow — the preprint host, arxiv, is banning authors for a year if they submit papers with hallucinated citations 🤖
Twitter thread from Thomas Dietterich, reading "Attention 
@arxiv
 authors: Our Code of Conduct states that by signing your name as an author of a paper, each author takes full responsibility for all its contents, irrespective of how the contents were generated. 1/
3:03 PM · May 14, 2026
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Thomas G. Dietterich
@tdietterich
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1h
If generative AI tools generate inappropriate language, plagiarized content, biased content, errors, mistakes, incorrect references, or misleading content, and that output is included in scientific works, it is the responsibility of the author(s). 2/
Thomas G. Dietterich
@tdietterich
·
1h
We have recently clarified our penalties for this. If a submission contains incontrovertible evidence that the authors did not check the results of LLM generation, this means we can't trust anything in the paper. 3/
Thomas G. Dietterich
@tdietterich
·
1h
The penalty is a 1-year ban from arXiv followed by the requirement that subsequent arXiv submissions must first be accepted at a reputable peer-reviewed venue. 4/
Thomas G. Dietterich
@tdietterich
·
1h
Examples of incontrovertible evidence: hallucinated references, meta-comments from the LLM ("here is a 200 word summary; would you like me to make any changes?"; "the data in this table is illustrative, fill it in with the real numbers from your experiments") end/"
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RNZ News Feeds @rnzrss.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Hundreds of ultra-rare NZ plants grown from last two specimens
rnz.co.nz
Hundreds of ultra-rare NZ plants grown from last two specimens
Researchers managed to collect just three seeds of the woollyhead herb in one season - two of which germinated.
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Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 09/05/2026
David Pocock applauds $387.4m in extra funding for CSIRO after tens of thousands sign petition
theguardian.com
David Pocock applauds $387.4m in extra funding for CSIRO after tens of thousands sign petition
Analysis commissioned by independent senator found national science agency’s funding is at its lowest since 1978 The Albanese government will boost funding to CSIRO by $387.4 million in a bid to meet the long-term costs of the national science agency. It follows months of advocacy by scientists and staff after hundreds of job cuts and cost-cutting measures. Continue reading...
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 23/04/2026
When Einstein developed general relativity the closest thing to a practical application that could even be imagined at the time was a slightly more precise description of where to look for the planet Mercury in the sky, and yet now we’d all be literally lost without it. Anyway: fund basic research.
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Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚🇳🇿 @notjustdna.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
The record of the dates of the start of the cherry blossoms in Japan is a classic natural measure of climate change (two posts below) -
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Eric Haywood @erichaywood.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
The Moon: oh wow you guys decided to come back Artemis II crew: earth’s haunted
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🦝 Pepper Raccoon: Trash Priestess 🦝 @pepperraccoon.com · 07/04/2026
I recently did a collaboration with the Department of Conservation to develop a line of merch for their iconic visitor centres at Tongariro and Aoraki National Parks... The Aoraki designs aren't public yet, but I can share the Tongariro designs which are now available for purchase on location.
A photo of a merch table at a DOC visitor centre in Tongariro, showing natural-coloured tote bags, tea towels, enamel mugs, and caps featuring Pepper Raccoon's Tongariro artwork.A digital flatlay of a design for Tongariro National Park, featuring a flying Kahu hawk over the lakes in the crossing.A digital flatlay of a design for Tongariro National Park, featuring a flying Kahu hawk over the lakes in the crossing.A digital flatlay of a design for Tongariro National Park, featuring a flying Kahu hawk over the lakes in the crossing.
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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
“first drafts of Results, Discussion, and Introduction should be the trainee’s own work. AI can help with grammar…tightening prose…critiquing the logic of an argument you’ve already made. But the hard part of forming the argument needs to be yours.’ blekhman.substack.com/p/you-need-t...
blekhman.substack.com
You need to make AI guidelines for your lab
Here's why you should, and how to start
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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 06/04/2026
"Spring bloom has been mostly early across the country, with central states seeing conditions for bloom 2-5 weeks early than a long-term average (1991-2020). Denver, CO is 35 days early, and Nashville, TN is 17 days early." Information from @usa-npn.bsky.social: www.usanpn.org/data/maps/sp...
Map of the contiguous United States showing the spring bloom index anomaly as of April 5, 2026 from the USA National Phenology Network. Many areas are earlier than normal.
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Rebecca Bloomer @rhbloomer.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
The more sequence data I get at, the deeper I feel this in my soul 😅
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Toni Potter @tonipotter33.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
youtu.be
Shihad - Home Again (Official Video) HD
YouTube video by Shihadmusic
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Tim Curran @timcurran.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Fancy a permanent lectureship in ecology at a great little uni in Aotearoa New Zealand? We have TWO roles available as part of our Joint Institute programme with Huazhong Agriculture University in Wuhan, China; 16 weeks teaching there, the rest at LU. careers.lincoln.ac.nz/jobdetails/a...
careers.lincoln.ac.nz
Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Ecology (HZAU) - Lincoln University
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Cate Macinnis-Ng @loraxcate.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
This report is terrible for the environment. NZ massively under-monitors environmental change and this is an issue in a changing climate because we will miss impacts of climate and other global change processes until it's too late to do anything about them. www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/repor...
mbie.govt.nz
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Troy Baisden @troybaisden.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
The report is dire all around but particularly bleak for Ag and Bioeconomy if its signals are followed. NZAS comments are on our releases page. scientists.org.nz/press-releas...
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Botany One @botany.one · 01/04/2026
Herbarium Sheets Are Holding Secrets Their Makers Never Intended www.botany.one/herbarium-sh... When you mount a plant on a sheet, you capture more than botany. A new paper reveals the unexpected historical treasures hiding in herbaria, and why closing them is a mistake. #Botany #PlantScience
botany.one
Herbarium Sheets Are Holding Secrets Their Makers Never Intended
When you mount a plant on a sheet, you capture more than botany. A new paper reveals the unexpected historical treasures hiding in herbaria, and why closing them is a mistake.
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Craig Bunt @profaginn.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Genetics is helping identify and protect historic apple varieties at the Jim Dunckley Heritage Orchard near Dunedin, turning it into a true living library. The Apple ID project is supported by Ag@Otago and BSI. www.odt.co.nz/rural-life/h... #Horticulture #HeritageApples #AgScience #Genomics #Otago
odt.co.nz
Keeping tabs on Otago trees
Science comes to the rescue to help identify apple tree varieties in an Otago heritage orchard.
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Journal of Experimental Botany @jxbotany.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
🍎🛡️ RESEARCH 🛡️🍎 The Rvi2 locus that confers resistance to scab in apple is fine-mapped to a 10 kb LTR retrotransposon insertion containing an FPPS gene, and used to develop a structural variant marker – López-Girona et al. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪 Awais Khan
Fig. 1.Graphic representation of the Rvi2-ELG-10kb assay. This 5′ fluorogenic hydrolysis probe assay targets a large insert highly associated with Rvi2 resistance using two probes and three primer sequences. The latter consist of one forward-primer (‘F_2Ins’) and two reverse-primer sequences (‘R_Rvi2_ref’ and ‘R_2Ins’). The primer pair ‘F_2Ins’ and ‘R_Rvi2_ref’ amplify the reference genome allele, while ‘F_2Ins’ and ‘R_2Ins’ amplify the insert allele. The ‘PrIns_Rvi2 (FAM)’ probe is specific for the 5′ reference/insert boundary and the ‘Rvi2_ref_Pr (YAK)’ probe is specific for the immediate 3′- and 5′-sequences flanking the insert. The probes are designed so that the reporter fluorophores are on the 5′-end and the quencher is on the 3′-end.
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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/03/2026
Christchurch public talk info here! events.humanitix.com/public-talk-th… #ProfSamLectureTour
events.humanitix.com
PUBLIC TALK- The Beatrice Hill Tinsley Lecturer-Astronomy vs. the Billionaire Space Race- Dr. Samantha Lawler
In February 2024, hundreds of pounds of potentially lethal debris from a SpaceX Crew Dragon trunk from a private astronaut mission fell on farmland near Regina,
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Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
This isn't shortread data, but alignments of genome assemblies with N50 > 100Mb. The plot is the # of bp per 100Kb window that are dropped because of missing data -- because those bp physically are not there in one of the other 25 genomes. This is what normal plant genomes look like, folks.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 30/12/2025
Open up this picture fully. Then look at the surface of Mars. Then look up to the top right. Spot Mars' moon Phobos high in the sky. Then notice the bright spot beside Phobos. That's Earth.
A forlorn landscape of layered rocks in the foreground, with hills fading into the background haze. At upper top right, a small crescent moon, and a bright star.
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Fabienne Gallaire @lignedescience.social.sciences.re.ap.brid.gy · 17/12/2025
To history of science scholars that may be around: Do you happen to have any good refs on the history of chromosome linkage mapping, map units, the definition of the centiMorgan and so on? #histsci #histbio #genetics #biology #historyofscience #haldane
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Bioeconomy Science Institute @bioeconomyscience.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
In 1997, we asked: How will ecosystems respond to rising CO₂? Then we waited—25 years.  NZ FACE revealed slow changes: pasture growth up just 3%, fertiliser efficiency halved, and forage quality fell.   Learn more: bit.ly/4qcPNzS #ClimateChange #FutureFarming
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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
always reblog food system insights
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Rebecca Bloomer @rhbloomer.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Hoowwwwww stinkin' cool is this - entrusted to the task of muling this (unopened) DSIR-era artefact to our hop breeder in Motueka. It must be almost as old as me 😅👵 Wonder if we could twist someone's arm to do a BSI IPA with some of our newer varieties?!
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Rebecca Bloomer @rhbloomer.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
I'd part with Actual Dollarbucks for a gene-edited MLO locus in my goth violas, this powdery mildew is killing the vibe
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Rebecca Bloomer @rhbloomer.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Honestly living and working in Lincoln this is... not inaccurate 😅
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Rebecca Bloomer @rhbloomer.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
One mild sunburn, four excellent sampling buddies, a few scratches to shins and 800-odd hops later.... home time. Perfectly timed for sampling at a comfy height though! Thanks Motueka, always a pleasure 🫶🌿🍻
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Rebecca Bloomer @rhbloomer.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Arabi-hops-is
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iNaturalist @inaturalist.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
This new paper documents a tenfold increase in research papers using community-collected iNaturalist data over just five years: tr.ee/89Ot3I According to the study, here are four key ways that iNaturalist data directly powers science 🧵⤵️
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Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
In case anyone is wondering if Watson was really THAT bad, @lpachter.bsky.social compiled a list of quotes that are absolutely not for the faint of heart. liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com
James Watson in his own words
“Some anti-Semitism is justified” “Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them” “Japan should be bombed for d…
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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
When people celebrate the individual genius of folks in science, they should also mourn the collective loss of genius of folks who were actively discouraged or disadvantaged from a career in science because of the same person(s)
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Rebecca Bloomer @rhbloomer.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Everything a girl could ask for
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Rebecca Bloomer @rhbloomer.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Today in "model organisms, they're just like real organisms": watched birds nicking inflorences off this wee dude out my office window today. For their nests, maybe?
Flowering arabidopsis with multiple inflorescences and maturing siliques, growing as a weed in gravel.
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Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
More cuts to the Marsden Fund of @royalsocietynz.bsky.social. This takes it down to $10/capita in real terms when it was over $16 for most of this century. Australia's equivalent, the ARC, is NZ$42/capita, as is the US NSF (despite ongoing attempts to gut the latter). www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
rnz.co.nz
Fewer Marsden Fund grants after government cuts
A major research fund has been forced to slash its grant allocation by more than $20 million next year.
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Dr Lucy Stewart @lcsnz.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
Context: this knocks back Marsden funding levels next year a whole two decades to (inflation adjusted) the same level funding as the 2005 Budget.
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